Copyright and the Internet

According to the law, "any original work cast in a certain form" is protected by copyright: 

1. "Work" does not necessarily mean an artistic work: any text (even a technical, scientific or advertising text, etc.), any photograph, any image, any graphic, any video, any music, any program or software... are considered as such.
2. "Original" means that there must be something of the author's personality. (NB: This criterion is highly subjective: most works tend to be considered original)
3. "in a certain form": this means that only ideas are not protected, at least until they are put into practice.

The work is automatically protected by copyright.

No registration is required. You don't even need to mention copyright ©. The work is protected from the moment of its creation until 70 years after the death of the author. Even works advertised as "copyright free" remain protected. However, the declaration of the copyright holder allows free use, the conditions of which are generally well specified. Infringement of copyright is considered counterfeiting and is punishable by law if it is "malicious" (= intent to harm) or fraudulent (= committed knowingly, with or without intent to harm).

What do copyrights cover?

• Reproduction (in any medium): the author may forbid the reproduction of his work, or authorize it by stipulating the terms he accepts for such reproduction.
• Translation, adaptation, modification of any kind. For example: summary, text cut, photo cropped, colors modified or simply altered by digitization, drawing reworked.
• Destination, distribution and communication to the public of the work: the author has control over all uses made of his work.
• Disclosure: the author alone decides when his or her work is complete, and can prohibit any distribution before that date.
• Authorship: the author has the right to forbid or require that his or her name be mentioned.
• Respect for the author's honor and reputation: this concerns, for example, the context in which the work is disseminated.

The only exception: the right to quote

You may reproduce an extract from a text without the author's permission. However, the quotation must be short, made "for purposes of criticism, polemic, teaching or scientific work", "in accordance with the honest practices of the profession and to the extent justified by the aim pursued". All quotations must mention the source and the author's name, and must be clearly presented as such.

In short, just because a piece of information, a video, an illustration or a piece of music is accessible to everyone on the Internet doesn't mean you can use or appropriate it!